Patient-reported visual function outcomes in immediately sequential versus delayed sequential bilateral cataract surgery

PURPOSE: To compare patient-reported visual function outcomes of immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery (ISBCS) and delayed sequential bilateral cataract surgery (DSBCS).

METHODS: Single-center, randomised controlled trial of patients eligible for bilateral cataract surgery allocated to ISBCS or DSBCS. Patients filled out the Catquest-7SF questionnaire before surgery, 1 week after surgery, and 3 months after surgery.

RESULTS: Ninety-eight patients were included for analysis (ISBCS = 51; DSBCS = 47). In both groups, there was a statistically significant improvement in Catquest-7SF patient-reported outcomes after surgery (p < 0.001), and no difference between the ISBCS and DSBCS groups (p ≥ 0.424). At both 1 week and 3 months post-surgery, a statistically significantly higher proportion of patients were "very satisfied" with the surgical approach in the ISBCS group (94.1% at both 1 week and 3 months) compared to the DSBCS group (55.3% at 1 week and 63.8% at 3 months), both p < 0.001.

CONCLUSIONS: Both ISBCS and DSBCS are effective options to treat bilateral cataracts with no statistically significant difference in patient-reported vision outcomes. However, we found postoperative satisfaction with the surgical approach to be higher among ISBCS patients, which suggests that ISBCS-related benefits, such as fewer health care visits and shorter vision rehabilitation, are compelling to patients.